


Shining, Shimmering, Splendid

by dwaekki



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Letters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwaekki/pseuds/dwaekki
Summary: Felix took a while to respond, taking time to chew his food before speaking. “I’m… trying to write a letter.” His answer was followed by a sheepish grin, one Seungmin knew he’d only see if Felix was truly nervous. “I’m still not that confident in writing in Korean, so I was hoping you could check it.”“Come on, your writing is mostly fine,” Seungmin told him firmly. He found Felix’s response puzzling and vague. He couldn’t think of why Felix would need write a letter, and how important it was that he needed someone to check it. Nonetheless, Seungmin held his questions in. It wasn’t like the nature of the letter was going to be relevant. He was going to help Felix write it no matter what.- or -Felix asks Seungmin to proofread a letter.





	Shining, Shimmering, Splendid

**Author's Note:**

> Just a disclaimer
> 
> \- The letter Felix asks for Seungmin's help with is in Korean but I don't speak/read/write Korean and the fic is in English, so the spelling errors described here are also in English. The intention, though, is to convey that Felix's spelling mistakes are of that level or nature: he's not terrible at all and he just slips up every so often. I hope it's clear enough, or if it isn't, it doesn't take too much away from the fic. Hehe.
> 
> \- I actually have never seen an episode of _Kirby: Right at Ya!_ , but Seungmin mentions it [here](https://twitter.com/StrayKids_C9/status/1114300928822112256), so I thought I'd use it.

  
haengbok2 (11:34): good morning seungminnie! 🌞😄  
haengbok2 (11:35): wanna hang out?  
seungmint (11:38): hey yongbokie ㅋㅋㅋ  
seungmint (11:38): sure what do you wanna do?  
haengbok2 (11:39): seungmin!!!! 😅😅😅😅  
haengbok2 (11:39): actually  
haengbok2 (11:39): there’s something i was hoping to ask for your help with 😅  
seungmint (11:40): sure what is it?  
haengbok2 (11:41): i’ll tell you about it later  
haengbok2 (11:41): i’ll be at your place in half an hour! 👋😄 

Seungmin was already waiting in their apartment’s living room when Felix rang the doorbell, so it didn’t take him long to open the door and find his friend, clad in jeans and a bright blue hoodie, standing behind the door. With his usual bright smile, Felix threw his arms around Seungmin and gave him a tight hug. Seungmin’s reflex was to tense up; Felix’s hugs, no matter how frequently he received them, always startled him. It didn’t help that he felt something hard against his back when Felix wrapped his arms around him. It turned out that Felix had come carrying a plastic file case.

“Yongbok-ah, long time no see,” Seungmin teased and laughed while immediately breaking away from the hug, then stepped aside to let Felix in. Felix didn't exactly like being called by his Korean name, and his varied reactions to it were always amusing. He was being playfully sarcastic as well, since it had only been a week since they last saw each other. 

“Seungminnie!” Felix let out an exasperated groan, but the bright smile remained on his face despite Seungmin's teasing. His nose, though, was scrunched up in a way that made Seungmin feel his teasing had been rewarded. 

“Had lunch yet? Mom left us something to eat.” Seungmin watched Felix take his shoes off and padded towards Seungmin in his socks, before he led the way to the kitchen.

It wasn’t exactly Felix’s first time coming to Seungmin’s apartment, though, and there was no real need to wait for Felix by the doorway and make sure he’d find his way through Seungmin’s home. Felix had been there countless of times back in high school to study together, work on school projects or just hang out, sometimes with their other friends, or just by himself. During the last few weeks before the college entrance exams, Felix practically set up residence in Seungmin’s room. (To be fair, Felix only lived three floors above in the same apartment building, so it wasn’t that outrageous of an arrangement.) 

Other than a picture of Seungmin on his high school graduation day his mother had hung up in the living room, their place hadn’t really changed since then. Besides, Felix still visited his place at least once a week. It was difficult to sync schedules during weekdays with the two of them having chosen to go to different universities, but somehow, every Sunday, Seungmin could always expect a message from Felix asking to hang out.

“Oh, your parents are out?” Felix then asked, looking a little surprised. Ordinarily, on Felix's Sunday visits, Seungmin’s father would be on the living room couch to give Felix a quick nod, and his mother in the kitchen to invite Felix to have a bite. “I haven’t had lunch yet, though, your mom’s cooking is always great!”

“Oh, didn't I mention yet that they'd be in Daegu this entire weekend? Business stuff,” Seungmin responded with a question of his own as he moved towards the cupboard to take out two sets of tableware. “A business trip of sorts.”

Felix sounded faintly surprised at the reminder. “Oh, right, you told me last week. So you've been alone since yesterday?”

“Yeah…” Seungmin trailed off, remembering how Felix turned down an invitation to come over yesterday because he was going to be studying with a group of university friends. 

“Oh, sorry… I should have--”

Seungmin shook his head. “It's fine. Hyunjin came over, actually. With Changbin-hyung.” Seungmin invited another friend of theirs after Felix turned him down. There was no reason for Felix to apologize, really, except Seungmin did feel something unpleasant at the pit of his stomach when Felix said he couldn't come, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it. It wasn’t a big deal, really.

“Ah, that's good.” They continued to talk about Hyunjin and his boyfriend (who was undeniably their friend now, as well) while they set the table and reheated the food Seungmin’s mother had cooked on the night before she left. It wasn’t long until they were seated across each other with a fair spread of food between them.

“So what is it you said you need my help with?” Seungmin asked Felix as soon as he settled into his seat, before he even picked up the pair of chopsticks Felix had laid on his side of the table just a minute ago. It had been a while since Felix asked his help for anything, and he was intrigued on what it was that Seungmin could help with. Back in high school, Seungmin helped Felix with homework almost everyday. The plastic file case Felix had with him would tell Seungmin it was homework-related, but with the two of them now studying very different things and going to very different universities, though, Seungmin thought that would be strange. Felix hadn’t asked him help for homework since they graduated. Naturally and presumably, Felix had found someone else to ask help from now, someone who was at least studying the same thing as he was. He also often mentioned doing homework with a classmate named Jeongin whenever he and Seungmin hung out, and how Felix would introduce him to Seungmin one of these days.

Seungmin would feel something inside him sink everytime Felix mentioned Jeongin. It was supposedly a good thing that Felix had found a new friend in university so quickly, one that would help him with his homework because Seungmin knew Felix didn’t have much confidence when it came to studying. But then, Seungmin always saw himself to be  _ that _ person in Felix’s life, and knowing someone else was slowly taking his place was at the very least, unnerving. Why that was unnerving bothered him as well. It wasn’t like he was going to stop being friends with Felix, who still made time to come over every week. Seungmin thought he was being silly and selfish with how he was feeling, but he felt that way anyway and he couldn’t help it.

That, or he admitted to himself that he liked Felix, and he was jealous of the way Felix’s face would light up whenever he would talk about his friend in school.

Felix took a while to respond, taking time to chew his food before speaking. “I’m… trying to write a letter.” His answer was followed by a sheepish grin, one Seungmin knew he’d only see if Felix was truly nervous. “I’m still not that confident in writing in Korean, so I was hoping you could check it.”

“Come on, your writing is mostly fine,” Seungmin told him firmly. He found Felix’s response puzzling and vague. He couldn’t think of why Felix would need write a letter, and how important it was that he needed someone to check it. Nonetheless, Seungmin held his questions in. It wasn’t like the nature of the letter was going to be relevant. He was going to help Felix write it no matter what.

“Give it to me.” Seungmin extended a hand to prompt Felix to give him the letter in question.

Felix’s already large eyes widened in surprise, making the edges of Seungmin’s lips curl up. “Now?” 

“Yes?” Seungmin laughed softly. “We have a lot of  _ Kirby _ episodes to catch up on. I’m sure you didn’t make too many mistakes so checking your letter while eating will be fine.” He wasn’t just giving Felix lip service. The other boy had only started learning Korean when his family moved back to Korea from Australia at the start of high school. Back then he hardly spoke a word of Korean and it was Seungmin, who studied abroad for a couple of years back in elementary and was thus fairly fluent in English, who was assigned by the their teacher to help him out. Seungmin had to translate everything for him back then, but now, while Felix still spoke Korean with a faint accent, he seemed to be comfortable enough with the language that they spoke to each other in Korean by default, and English was only for occasional interjections like  _ Oh my god! _ and  _ No way! _

Felix put down his bowl of rice as well, and reached for the plastic file case he had laid on the far side of the table. From within it, he produced a piece of pale violet-colored paper, on which Seungmin could see was scribbled all over with Felix’s blocky Korean handwriting. Seungmin took it from him and wasted no time in reading the contents.

To Seungmin’s surprise, on the piece of paper was Felix detailing his feelings of adoration and attachment towards a certain someone, strangely yet unnamed, written in black ink.

 

How are you today? Have you eaten? 

It feels strange to write you a letter. ^^;; Maybe you already know what I’m about to say because if it was something of the usual, I would have said it over text or in person already. Or maybe you already know without me writing a letter. 

__

I like you. I like you a lot! 

__

I like you’re smile. Its a smile that makes me feel like everything will all ways be OK. 

__

I like you’re voice, it sounds so warm especially when you talk softly and I feel like I’m the only one who can hear you. 

__

I like it when you tease me! Its never too much, I feel only a little embarrassed but I end up laughing anyway. And you laugh too! Which makes it all worth it because your laugh is super cute. Sometimes I can’t help but hug you, which you don’t seem to like so sorry about that ^^;;;; 

__

Oh, and last but not the least, I like it when you call me Yongbok! I’ve told you I don’t like it when people call me that and I still don’t, but when its you who does it its cute. Sometimes… no a lot of times, everything you do is just cute and makes my heart flicker. 

__

I think its what made me realize that I do like you a lot, apart from the fact that I always think of you even when were not together. Its crazy but I like it! ^^ 

__

Thank you for being my friend! You’ve always been helpful to me in everything and I am really really thankful I have you. I think I would have been really lonely and afraid without you. 

__

I don’t know how you really feel about me and how you’ll feel when you read this, maybe this letter will even become a bearden and I’m sorry. You don’t have to say anything or act any differently if you don’t want to. Maybe you can pretend you never saw this letter, or maybe you’ll be uncomfortable and its OK. Maybe its selfish of me, but I just want to let you know that I like you a lot, because one day it just might be too late you know? ^^ 

__

Happily yours,  
Lee Yongbok 

__

__

Seungmin found himself blinking after he finished reading. He was surprised; Felix hadn’t mentioned liking anyone recently, so he had no idea that Felix had any reason to write a confession letter. He also found himself pressing his lips into a thin line, trying to keep the edges from curling downwards. It hurt more than he thought it would, to know Felix liked someone else  _ again _ .

Truthfully, Seungmin wished the letter was for him. And he would tell Felix that he liked him, too. Because as much as Seungmin would refuse to admit to anyone, he really did like Felix, and already had for a long time.

It didn’t help that there had been a number of times throughout the course of their friendship that Seungmin got an inkling that Felix liked him, especially when Seungmin realized his own feelings and he started being more aware of everything Felix did: a hug here, a compliment there, or the bright smile he’d have on whenever he saw Seungmin. Felix was, after all, a naturally sweet and thoughtful person, one of the kindest people Seungmin ever knew. He seemed to have a talent at making anyone he’d encounter feel special, and Seungmin was often on the receiving end of that. For a while now, he’d always kept a tiny glimmer of hope in his heart that their feelings were mutual, but with Felix now asking him to proofread a confession letter, all his chances seemed to have evaporated, and that was disappointing, to say the least.

Despite his own feelings, though, Seungmin couldn’t help but try to figure out in his head who the intended recipient of the letter was.  The last time Felix confided with Seungmin about someone he was crushing on was at the start of their senior year in high school, and Seungmin was sure the letter wasn’t for that person. Felix already confessed to them soon after he confided with Seungmin and they dated for a few months, but they broke off when they mutually decided to focus on studying for the entrance exams. 

Besides, Seungmin knew of only a few people teased Felix with calling him by his Korean name. Back in high school, only three of them in their friend group did. It was Jisung who started it.  _ Using your Korean name will help you learn Korean faster, you know? _ he had justified the teasing back then. Seungmin followed, when on one study session, Seungmin playfully scolded Felix for making a mistake on a calculus problem and addressed him as Yongbok. Hyunjin was the last to have a go at it, perhaps he worried for a while if he would be offending Felix in any way, then caved in and started calling him Yongbok in their KakaoTalk group chat when both Seungmin and Jisung did. 

Hyunjin had been dating someone else since the start of senior year, so Seungmin was sure the letter wasn’t meant for him. He couldn’t imagine Felix confessing to someone who’d already been committed for a long time already. Seungmin was sure it wasn’t for Jisung, too. Felix had confessed to him during their first year in high school, before the four of them became a tight-knit circle of friends, but Jisung said he liked someone else. Seungmin didn’t think Felix and Jisung would have become close friends if Felix had lingering feelings for the other even after being rejected.

Perhaps teasing Felix with calling him Yongbok caught on in his circle of university friends, too. Seungmin decided it was a lot more likely that the letter was for a university friend. It was early in May, a little over two months since the semester started. That was ample time for Felix or anyone to develop feelings for anyone he regularly encountered in university.

_ The Jeongin guy _ .

Seungmin found himself going back to the times he could remember Felix bringing up who seemed to be his closest university friend. There was a time Felix described Jeongin as having a cute smile, so if the qualities of Felix's crush described in the letter were to be converted into items for a checklist, the first item,  _ I like your smile _ , would be ticked off immediately. 

The second item, Seungmin wasn't sure with. He couldn't remember Felix mentioning anything about Jeongin's voice so he had to leave it unticked. He wasn't sure about the teasing (Item #3) either, but he guessed if Felix thought Jeongin had a cute smile, it won't be far-fetched to imagine Felix would find his laugh cute as well (Item #5). 

The hugging (Item #4), Seungmin thought that he could tick on the list. On one of their Sunday visits, Felix had asked him if he should curb his tendency to hug people whenever he got too excited, which happened a lot, because Felix was a little too easily excitable. Seungmin didn’t mind the question much then, he just told Felix that yes, he should try to hold back with people he just met. Seungmin also remembered he could have answered a little too sharply because the hugging still sometimes startled him as well. In retrospect, Seungmin realized that maybe Felix had asked that because Jeongin reacted unpleasantly to being hugged by Felix.

Seungmin decided there was no way to confirm the next two items: the Yongbok-calling (Item #6) and everything about his crush being cute and heart-flick-- heart-fluttering. (Item #7) He then decided to tick the next one about Felix thinking about his crush all the time. (Item #8) Seungmin could remember Felix mentioning Jeongin so many times he almost snapped with annoyance. Seungmin didn’t care about Jeongin, he was interested in how Felix was doing in his university but Felix kept bringing him up anyway.

The last item was definitely one to be ticked as well. It was a given that Jeongin was helpful to Felix, since Felix never failed to talk about how he did homework with him all the time.

Seungmin summarized the list in his head and how it stacked up against what he knew about Jeongin and Felix’s feelings about him.

  * [ ✓ ]  cute smile
  * [    ] nice voice
  * [    ] teases Felix
  * [ ✓ ]  dislikes hugging
  * [ ✓ ]  cute laugh
  * [    ] calls Felix Yongbok
  * [    ] everything they do is cute and heart- _fluttering_ (???)
  * [ ✓ ]  is always on Felix’s mind
  * [ ✓ ]  helpful



Five out of nine items were ticked on the list in his head. That was a majority already. The four remaining items weren’t definite X’s as well, more like Seungmin just couldn’t confirm it at the moment. Seungmin felt he wouldn’t be wrong to guess that the letter was indeed for Jeongin. He thought whomever the letter was for shouldn’t matter, but knowing it was Jeongin, Felix’s new friend and study buddy and whom Seungmin had never even met, made him want to crumple up the letter and throw it out of the window.

“Seungminnie?” Felix suddenly asked, taking Seungmin out of his thoughts and effectively stopping him from disposing of the letter unceremoniously. Seungmin looked up to face Felix and found him tilting his head to get a better view of Seungmin’s face. “Is everything okay?”

Seungmin quickly forced a laugh. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Just spacing out that’s all.” He waved a hand dismissively for added effect. “Hyunjin and Changbin-hyung left at around 3AM.”

Felix’s smile disappeared and a worried frown took its place. “Oh, sorry, did my text wake you up before you planned to?” 

“No, no, it’s fine.  _ Anyway, _ your letter,” Seungmin spoke firmly, trying to divert the attention somehow away from himself.

Felix’s face lit up. “How was it?”

Seungmin took a bite of food and swallowed it down before answering Felix, hoping the food could somehow loosen the tight knot that had formed in his chest. It helped a little, at least to an extent just enough for him to be able to answer Felix properly.

“You didn’t write down whom it’s for,” was the first thing he managed to say. “I didn’t even know you liked someone at the moment.”

A small frown formed on Felix’s face. “You really didn’t…?” 

Seungmin shook his head and shrugged, to which Felix only responded with a sheepish grin. “You’ll know later, if you don’t mind? Not now, because I feel like once I’ve written their name down, I’d given it to them already… and I don’t want to give it to them until it’s perfect!”

“Okay?” Seungmin chuckled. “Anyhow, there’s only a few spelling errors, but more or less it’s fine,” he answered in as nonchalant a tone as he could manage. It was a little easier to do so, with his amusement at Felix’s reasoning taking over his annoyance and frustration.  “I can point each one out to you after we eat.”

Felix grinned widely at him in response. “Thank you! You’re really the best!” The smile on his face was too quick to disappear, though. “Do you think it’s too formal?”

Seungmin knit his eyebrows together to form a puzzled frown. It was a valid concern. Felix sometimes had awkward word choices because of what he’d learned from language books. Truthfully, though, Seungmin didn’t think that tendency became apparent in the letter, which, in a way, also made him feel proud of his friend. “What? No! And besides, it’s a confession letter,  that shouldn’t matter.” He took a gulp of water and continued to eat. 

“I want to be sure the recipient will like it,” Felix answered, starting to look worried again.

“What’s important is it feels genuine, and what you wrote really, really does sound so.” Seungmin paused for a bit, pretending he still had food in his mouth and he needed to swallow it down. The truth was, the knot in his chest tightened again at the thought that it was someone else receiving the letter. “If your crush doesn’t like or appreciate that, then, I guess, that person is not for you.” 

Felix grinned widely again at that. “You’re right, Seungmin. As always. Thank you.”

Seungmin let out a nonchalant chuckle and picked up more food with his chopsticks. “Shut up, not always. Remember that big fight Hyunjin and Jisung had? You were the one who guessed correctly at who was gonna apologize first.”

“Oh?” Felix looked at Seungmin with a puzzled frown, as if he had no idea what Seungmin was talking about.

“Grandpa Yongbok!” Seungmin playfully scolded, laughing more genuinely this time. 

Felix scrunched his face up and let out a loud groan, then laughed along as well. “I really don’t remember!”

The way Felix’s nose wrinkled, how his eyes turned into half moons, and how his lips curled up to form a wide, open-mouthed smile soon untangled the knot in his chest, or at least, they took his mind off of it. They spent the rest of their meal recounting events from high school and laughing about how petty the fights amongst the four of them had been, and how they can’t wait to see the other two again.

 

\---

 

After eating and cleaning up, the both of them settled into the couch in the living room. Seungmin reached out for a pen that was lying on the coffee table, then brought his knees close to his chest, and extended a hand for Felix to hand him the letter again.

“Hm, Seungminnie, can I ask you an honest question?” Felix asked as he gave Seungmin back the piece of pale-violet paper.

Seungmin gave him an incredulous look. “Of course, you can. Always-- Wait, this is a draft, right? I can write on it?”

“Yes!” Felix answered brightly. He then turned quiet, while Seungmin looked at him expectantly for what he was about to ask. It seemed important, if Felix had to explicitly make sure it was all right to be honest, even when that was a given between the two of them already.

“So…?”

“Back in high school, did you ever like Jisoo? Or… do you like her now?”

Jisoo was Seungmin’s seatmate in high school, and was the only other classmate of theirs who eventually went to the same university as Seungmin. They were two of a  kind: both of them ranked highly in class, studied abroad previously, and came from affluent families. She also went to the same cram school as Seungmin and Felix did, so the three of them studied together often and became close friends. Seungmin still often hung out with her in university, along with other new friends they’ve made there. He’d mentioned that to Felix as well, so it was understandable where the question was coming from.

Seungmin couldn’t help but chuckle, though, remembering Jisoo telling him just the other day that someone had just asked her the exact same thing about him. “She’s a close friend,” he answered with a small grin. “But that’s all.”

“Ah.” Before Felix gave Seungmin a small smile, he made an expression where his mouth formed a small ‘O’ and his eyebrows rose briefly. Was that surprise? Relief? It happened fast, though, and Seungmin decided he just imagined it. 

“Why do you ask all of a sudden?” 

“Oh, since we were talking about high school and all,” was all Felix replied with, along with a small shrug of his shoulders. 

“I see.” Seungmin found he didn’t really have anything else to say to or think about that, so he shifted a little in his seat and clicked the top of the retractable pen he was holding. “Anyway, let’s get this done so we can watch  _ Kirby _ ?” 

Felix nodded and leaned closer towards Seungmin, so he could see what Seungmin was writing on his draft. Perhaps Felix was a little bit too close for comfort, for Seungmin couldn’t help but straighten up in his seat upon feeling Felix’s breath against his cheek. It didn’t help that he was reading the letter again. 

“You switched your  _ you’re _ ’s and  _ your _ ’s and your  _ it’s _ ’s and  _ its _ ’s,” Seungmin started off, trying to distract himself as well from his own feelings. He encircled all instances of the mistake with his pen. “ _ Again _ .” He didn’t think he needed to sound so stern, but this wasn’t his first time pointing out the same kind of mistake in something Felix wrote, so he felt he needed to emphasize on it for Felix to remember it better.

Felix let out a groan. “I keep forgetting about this…” He frowned and scratched the back of his head.

Seungmin turned to him and gave him a disapproving look. “The next time you make this mistake, you’re treating me to meat. And you’re cooking even if you’re one week older than I am.” He then put on a playful grin to tell Felix he was kidding. Felix gave him a solemn nod, nonetheless. 

The knot in Seungmin’s chest from earlier returned as he went on to re-read the letter. He couldn’t help but admire how so much like Felix the letter was: sincere, heartfelt, cheerful, and thoughtful. These were the exact same qualities he liked so much about Felix, and it was almost like Felix was giving a part of himself, if not the entirety of it, and not just a mere confession letter. Seungmin couldn’t help but be jealous and frustrated that it wasn’t him who was going to receive it, and how the actual recipient could possibly dare reject Felix and break his heart. 

“And here.” Seungmin then pointed the pen towards the part where Felix wrote  _ flickering _ . “Did you mean  _ fluttering _ ?”

A crease formed on Felix’s forehead. “Oh? Is that how you describe when it feels like something is….” He paused and stood up, then balled his hands -- Seungmin never failed to notice how small they were --  into tiny fists and held them in front of himself, then opened them at the same time, stretching his fingers wide. “Like this?”

“What?” Seungmin couldn’t help but laugh, not because Felix looked silly but because he looked so cute.

“ _ Shining, s...shimmering _ ...” Felix struggled to explain even in English with exasperation. Seungmin guessed he was trying to say it in Korean, but couldn’t find the right word and gave up, but still couldn’t find the right word for it in English.

That didn’t mean he understood entirely what Felix was trying to say, though. “Wait, what?  _ Shining, shimmering, splendid? _ ” Seungmin playfully sang to tease him.

“Seungminnie!” Felix laughed and scrunched up his nose again. “ _ It’s like something is shimmering, inside me, _ ” he answered completely in the language he was more comfortable in. “ _ And I feel like I want to squeeze something? But it’s not like the way you’d want to squeeze a stress ball. _ ”

Seungmin then knew exactly what he meant. He had felt it before, and he was feeling it right then and there, too, towards Felix. “Maybe you did mean  _ fluttering _ ,” he answered, smiling softly.

“Oh, okay! Sorry!” Felix let out a loud sigh of relief and plopped on the couch beside Seungmin and leaned in close again. 

Seungmin only let out another laugh, partly genuine and partly an attempt to ignore how fast his heart was beating in his chest, then struck out  _ flickering _ and beside it wrote  _ fluttering.  _ He then saw a  _ were _ where a  _ we’re _ should have been and encircled it, then wrote  _ we’re _ right below without a word. “It’s crazy but you like it, huh?” Seungmin read the sentence next to the correction he just made letter out loud. He couldn’t help but imagine Felix saying it, with a bright smile and his deep voice cheerful with a soft giggle floating above it.

“Ah…” Felix scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. “Is it okay that I wrote that?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? I think it’s cute,” he answered, giving Felix a reassuring smile. “You really must think about this person a lot, huh?” Seungmin put on a wide, tight-lipped smile, hoping if his tone had slipped to show any signs of jealousy or displeasure, a wide smile would diffuse it.

“I really do! All the time we’re not together.” Felix turned his gaze away from the letter and towards the space ahead of him, smiling fondly. “Sometimes, all I need is to see something as ordinary as… a pencil, maybe? Or the soft-boiled eggs at a convenience store, and be reminded of them.”

“Crazy indeed.” Seungmin continued to hold the edges of his lips up. Pencils and eggs seemed totally random (The latter did make him hungry, though, and he figured he could make soft-boiled eggs to add to his dinner later.  _ Does Jeongin like eggs, too? _ he found himself thinking as well.) but he knew he could relate with Felix on that regard. He himself thought of Felix whenever he saw a chocolate bar. Felix had an incredibly sweet tooth, sometimes Seungmin genuinely worried for his health. Seungmin would also think of Felix -- his smile, in particular -- whenever he would look out the window of his room after a long night of studying. This was especially true during the rare instances that the sky was clear and the stars were visible, glowing from a  distance. Seungmin thought he was probably even crazier.

“Is it really… crazy…?” Felix blinked at him with his large, round eyes. “Do I sound like a psychopath or something?”

Seungmin laughed again. “No! It’s… not crazy,” he answered, then turned his gaze back to the letter. Beside him, Felix let out a sigh of relief and leaned back into the couch.

“You’re really anxious about this, huh?” Seungmin asked and poked Felix’s side with his pen.

Felix let out a loud yelp in surprise, and brought a hand to where Seungmin poked him. “I do really like the person a lot, so…”

_ Ah, aren’t they lucky _ , Seungmin wanted to say. Instead, though, he just gave Felix a quick pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry we’re almost done,” he said with a small reassuring smile. He realized when he moved on to the next paragraph of the letter, though, that he needed some sort of reassurance, too, for it was the most difficult one to read.

This person had been helpful to Felix, and Felix would be lonely and afraid without them. Seungmin found himself swallowing air and pressing his lips together into a tight line upon reading that again. This was the part Seungmin wished he was for Felix, but it seemed it was someone else and there was really nothing he could do about it other than proofread Felix’s confession letter for them. 

“Not a lot of mistakes left,” he mumbled when he felt like he had been quiet for too long, just to keep Felix from suspecting that something was amiss. He encircled another  _ its _ where there should have been an  _ it’s _ . 

“Ah! That’s a relief!” Felix clapped his tiny hands together in excitement. 

“Last, I think you meant  _ burden _ , not... I don’t know what this word is...” Felix had written  _ bearden _ , which Seungmin didn’t even think was a proper word.

“Oh, yes, burden!” Felix exclaimed, realizing his mistake. “Aaah, Seungminnie, what would I have done without you?”

“You owe me,” Seungmin stuck a tongue out at Felix, then promptly struck  _ bearden _ out and wrote  _ burden _ above it. He then skimmed through the entire letter again, for any mistakes he could have missed, but it seemed he’d been thorough enough. Any remaining mistakes wouldn’t mar Felix’s chances with his crush, or if it did, then his crush never deserved Felix in the first place. One would have to be heartless and cold to reject someone like Felix because of a few spelling mistakes. He then handed the letter to Felix. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, Seungminnie!” Felix took the letter, then wrapped his arms around Seungmin tightly. 

In response, Seungmin let out a loud whine inched his face away. It wasn’t because he didn’t like Felix’s hugs, he just got startled sometimes by how sudden Felix would give them. It was incredibly endearing, Seungmin just never got used to it.

Felix then pulled away. “Sorry, I always forget you don’t like it.”

“It’s not that!” Seungmin replied, chuckling. “I just get surprised, that’s all.”

“Really?!” It seemed like it was Felix’s turn to get surprised. “I’ve always thought--”

“I would have told you straight up already if I didn’t like it,” Seungmin laughed, shaking his head. He then leaned forward to pick up the remote control lying on top of the coffee table. “So,  _ Kirby _ ?”

“Wait, no!” Felix held a hand up in front of him with a sheepish smile. “I’ll rewrite this first.” Before Seungmin could even protest, Felix opened up his file case and took out a clean piece of pale violet-colored paper and a pen and a sharpie he had brought along with him.

“Now?” Seungmin frowned, but switched the television on anyway.

“It won’t take long,” Felix promised, grinning. “Can I use your dining table?”

Seungmin gave him a nod, after which Felix stood up and headed to their apartment’s dining area. He let out a soft sigh, and while waiting for Felix, decided to do a bit of browsing on his phone. Felix returned a only a few minutes later, though, before Seungmin could even finish backreading his regularly slow Instagram feed, grinning and seemingly with a spring in his step, then handed his rewritten letter to Seungmin. 

“What?”

“I added something-- a few things actually. Could you check it please?” Felix asked with a hopeful look on his face.

“You should have added it to the draft,” Seungmin frowned as he took the letter from Felix’s hands. “If there are mistakes, then won’t you have to rewrite again?” 

“I’m sure there are no mistakes this time,” answered Felix with confidence Seungmin never saw him with regarding his Korean or his writing.

“Then you don’t have to make me check it,” Seungmin teased with a crooked grin, but shifted his gaze to the letter in his hands anyway.

 

Dear **Seungmin** !!!! 

 

Seungmin looked up from the letter towards Felix, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in surprise. He didn’t know what to say, or how to feel than utterly shocked that Felix addressed the letter to him, when he had concluded early on that it was someone else. Next came confusion. Was this a prank? The wide, toothy grin on Felix’s face, though, and how his eyes sparkled with it, reminded Seungmin that Felix wouldn’t have the heart to do such a thing. 

Felix then extended a hand. “Go on,” he told him softly.

 

It feels strange to write you a letter. ^^;; Maybe you already know what I’m about to say because if it was something of the usual, I would have said it over text or in person already. Or maybe you already know without me writing a letter. 

I like you. I like you a lot! 

I like your smile. It’s a smile that makes me feel like everything will all ways be OK. 

I like your voice, it sounds so warm especially when you talk softly and I feel like I’m the only one who can hear you. 

I like it when you tease me! It’s never too much, I feel only a little embarrassed but I end up laughing anyway. And you laugh too! Which makes it all worth it because your laugh is super cute. Sometimes I can’t help but hug you, which I thought you disliked but I learned just today that you were okay with it. ^^;;;; 

Oh, and last but not the least, I like it when you call me Yongbok! I’ve told you I don’t like it when people call me that and I still don’t, but when it’s you who does it it’s cute. Sometimes… no a lot of times, everything you do is just cute and makes my heart flutter. ( _Shining, shimmering, splendid_ ! ㅋㅋㅋ) 

I think it’s what made me realize that I do like you a lot, apart from the fact that I always think of you even when we’re not together. It’s crazy but I like it! ^^ 

Thank you for being my friend! You’ve always been helpful to me in everything and I am really really thankful I have you. I think I would have been really lonely and afraid without you. 

I don’t know how you really feel about me and how you’ll feel when you read this, maybe this letter will even become a burden and I’m sorry. You don’t have to say anything or act any differently if you don’t want to. Maybe you can pretend you never saw this letter, or maybe you’ll be uncomfortable and its OK. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I just want to let you know that I like you a lot, because one day it just might be too late you know? ^^ 

Happily yours,  
**Lee Yongbok**

P.S. I needed someone to proofread my letter for you, but at the same time, I wanted you to be the first one to see it!  ^^;; So I asked Jisung and Hyunjin if it would be a good idea to ~~stick~~ strike two birds with one stone and they said it was brilliant... They said you’ll give it back to me with corrections anyway if there are any mistakes so… I hope you don’t mind what I did. ^^; 

 

Seungmin read the letter a few more times, almost as if he hadn’t read the draft version for the nth time just a few minutes ago. Finding out that it was for him, not Jeongin or whoever else, turned the letter into something new. It was him who made Felix feel like something was shimmering inside him, and the one Felix thought he would feel lonely and afraid without. The thought  of it made him feel light, in a way that he felt like he could float off the couch if he willed himself to. 

“So…?” Felix spoke softly and slowly then suddenly gave Seungmin a sheepish grin. “I mean, sorry, like I said there, you don’t have to say anything.  _ Kirby _ , I guess?”

“No!” Seungmin looked up from the letter finally, and willed himself to turn his gaze towards Felix, despite how self-conscious he was feeling. His cheeks felt incredibly warm.

The grin on Felix’s face disappeared to give way to a frown, which shortly after turned into a sad, resigned smile. “Oh… A  _ no _ , huh? I… It’s okay...”

“No, no, Felix, no!” Seungmin yelled this time, realizing his first  _ No! _ came off to Felix as something else entirely. “I meant, no, we’re not watching  _ Kirby _ yet,” he clarified waving his hand frantically in front of him. “I just… have something to say before we do that. I guess.” Felix’s face lit up again, but not as much as it usually did, as if something was holding him back. Seungmin hated to see Felix looking like that, so he knew that he should say what he wanted to say right away. It wasn’t easy, though. There were probably a billion thoughts swimming in his head, and he wasn’t sure which one would first make its way out into the open to be spoken out loud.

“I mean, if you were going to write me a letter, you don’t have to have it proofread,” was the first thought of that managed to slip past Seungmin’s lips. “I shit on Jisung and Hyunjin for their spelling errors, but not you. Never you. I just point them out to you so you’ll know better.”

The edges of Felix’s lips curled up, and his eyes turned into half-moons to form a sheepish smile. “Well, I did feel like you were always a little harsh on them-- That, or you were just especially nice to me, I was never sure, but I liked that, too.” 

That prompted Seungmin’s cheeks to warm up a bit more, but he willed himself to continue.

“It’s the latter, I think.” Seungmin paused to take a deep breath. “Because I like you, too. I always have.”

Felix looked at Seungmin with his eyes wide for an entire second, before he let out a loud, joyful yell, one Seungmin swore could be heard across the entire floor their apartment was on. Before Seungmin knew it, Felix was seated beside him on the couch, with his arms tightly around Seungmin’s shoulders.

“Aaaah, Seungminnie! Do you realize how happy I’m feeling right now?” Felix asked, his eyes shining.

“I think so,” Seungmin laughed as he tried to curb his usual reflex to inch away whenever Felix hugged him. It was on him for never getting used to it, not Felix.

The question remained unanswered, and Felix only kept his arms wrapped around Seungmin, with his head resting on Seungmin’s chest. They were so close to each other, he could feel Felix’s warm breath against his chest.  _ Shining, shimmering _ . He couldn’t help but think of Felix’s words from earlier, and how accurate they were. For a span of time Seungmin couldn’t entirely be sure of, they stayed that way. Seungmin felt strangely calm, when before, he’d usually tense up the moment Felix got close.

He eventually decided to speak, however.

“There was one mistake we missed out on,” Seungmin said in a small voice while he slowly and hesitantly draped an arm over Felix’s shoulders.

“Oh?” Felix raised his head and looked at Seungmin, surprised.

“I mean, like I said… to me, it doesn’t matter.” Seungmin paused to give Felix a small, reassuring smile. “But maybe you need to know for when you write something. For school, or something. You misspelled  _ always _ .”

Felix responded with a loud groan. “What?! Aw, man...”

“I just thought you should know-”

Seungmin was cut off by Felix pressing closer against him and briefly burying his face into the crook of Seungmin’s neck. “I know, thank you, Seungminnie. You’re always looking out for me.”

“It’s just a spelling correction, Yongbok,” Seungmin scoffed and tried to appear nonchalant despite how giddy he was feeling, and how he made it a point to use Yongbok instead of Felix, knowing now that Felix liked it. 

Felix scrunched up his nose then laughed out loud. To Seungmin’s surprise, though, Felix spoke softly after that. “One out of many. You really did your best to help me with the letter. I appreciate that.”

“I did say you owe me.” It was Seungmin’s turn to scrunch up his nose. He wasn't going to admit out loud that he did that because there was no way he could have refused Felix anyway. If being able to give the perfect confession letter to the person he liked would make Felix smile, then Seungmin would help him do that.

“Fair enough!” Felix looked up at Seungmin again, then pulled away, with the hair on top of his head brushing against Seungmin’s cheek as he moved. “What do I owe you?”

While Felix taking Seungmin’s jokes seriously wasn’t anything new, Seungmin couldn't help but chuckle. “I was kidding, come on!” He reached out for Felix’s arm and tugged at the sleeve of his hoodie. “You don't owe me anything.”

Felix gave Seungmin a very serious-looking stare, with his eyebrows knit together and his mouth pressed into a thin line. 

Seungmin let out a resigned sigh and laughed some more. He figured Felix was going to insist on paying him back unnecessarily anyway, then remembered the newly-opened brunch cafe near their apartment building. They apparently served eggs benedict, a dish Seungmin liked a lot but couldn’t eat often. Perhaps he could get Felix to buy it for him.  “Lee Yongbok, if you insist, then--”

“Can I kiss you?”

Seungmin could only blink at Felix in surprise, who was looking right back at him so solemnly that one would think he was borrowing ten billion won from Seungmin without guarantees on when he would pay the amount back. Ordinarily, Seungmin would have chuckled in amusement. It was endearing how Felix could be so unnecessarily serious and caught up about the smallest things. Seungmin’s mind seemed to have gone blank, though. It could be that his supply of tolerance for surprises in a day had already been drained with Felix revealing the letter was for him. Or he’d thought of sharing a kiss with Felix probably too many times before, but didn’t think it would even happen, and not especially this soon.

It seemed, though, that Seungmin took too long being tongue-tied for Felix’s features relaxed slowly into a small smile. “Ah, I guess-”

“I mean, of course, you can,” Seungmin cut Felix off with a small voice, resisting the urge to direct his gaze towards the couch’s upholstery. The words about to follow at the tip of his tongue made him feel self-conscious, but he wasn’t about to hold them in. “I would very much… like that, actually.”

“Really?!” The entirety of Felix’s face brightened up and that alone was enough to bring Seungmin back to feeling at ease.

“Do you really think I’ll say no?!” Seungmin asked, trying to be cross, but a soft chuckle came out right after. “I already said I like--” 

Seungmin didn’t know at which point while he was still talking did Felix reach out to cup his cheeks with his tiny hands, when his lips parted against Felix’s, or how the taste of Felix’s favorite peach-flavored lip balm was soon on his tongue. He didn’t know how Felix slid his hand up to run his fingers through Seungmin’s hair, or when Seungmin reached towards the small of Felix’s back to pull him closer. He did know, though, that all the time he had spent before thinking about what it’d be like to kiss Felix didn’t prepare him for how fast would make his heart beat, or how much he’d hate to pull away even when the both of them were  close to gasping for air. 

It was Felix who finally pulled away, untangling his arms from Seungmin, while his cheeks glowed pink, and his lips were parted to catch his breath. He looked at Seungmin expectantly as he did so, as if he was waiting for him to say something. Seungmin, on the other hand, could only give Felix the same anticipating stare. He found himself taking one of Felix’s tiny hands in his, though, and giving it a squeeze.

“You took me by surprise again, Lee Yongbok,” Seungmin finally managed to say afterwards, trying to look stern despite how warm his own cheeks were.

Felix let out a loud laugh. “Ah, I’m sorry!” he exclaimed, squeezing Seungmin’s hand back while he slowly lowered his gaze. “You said I could kiss you and I just wanted to kiss you already, so...”

Seungmin tugged lightly at Felix’s hand. “It was fine.” He then felt self-consciousness flood through him again, but again, he didn't let it stop him. “It was... nice, even.”

“Ah, was it…? What a relief.” Felix’s let out a loud sigh then gave Seungmin a wide, bright smile. Seungmin could only give him a soft smile in return, and feel his insides warm up with a strange sort of pride and fondness that maybe sometimes he was the reason Felix’s eyes shone and shimmered like stars.

  
  


_\--- end._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you getting here means you enjoyed the fic, too! Thank you for reading!
> 
> I am on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/crepebin), hehe. I wanna make.. friends but I don't know how to approach people so I'll just... throw this out here, I guess...
> 
> If anyone is curious about the formatting of the letters, I got the code off of [this](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11549178/chapters/25935135).


End file.
